A New Design Approach and Framework for Elderly Care Robots

A relatively new area within information systems is the design of robotic healthcare. This narrative review considers the question, how does one ethically design an elderly care robot? To answer this question, robot ethicists consider the ethical impact of robots, how designers ought to design robots ethically, and how a robot design ought to be, so its behaviour is ethical. The latter consideration defines another field of study, machine ethics. Machine ethicists ask, how does one design a robot information system to behave ethically? Thus, robot ethics is concerned with the ethics of design practice, whereas machine ethics is concerned with the ethics of the product designed. The findings from this narrative review point the way forward to how one can answer both questions with a new design approach that is grounded in care and professional ethics, value sensitive design, and the integration of two machine ethics schools of thought

Apprenticeship and Conservation Incentives

Apprentice programs offer a method to encourage responsible individual behavior by laying the foundation for successful collective property rights. Apprenticeship has three purposes: to restrict the rate of entry, to affect the quality of the participant, and to create the conditions for collective action for sustainability. Apprenticeship could be an important fishery management tool, particularly in decentralized, adaptive management regimes that require ongoing, multi-party negotiation for success. It is not vocational training; instead it serves a public purpose: to create the conditions for stewardship and participation in management. This perception of collective property right mimics customary practice in some successful traditional fisheries such as the Maine lobster fishery where customary practice has been demonstrated both to have conservation benefits and to lower enforcement costs. Case information from Maine’s new, statutory lobster apprentice program is discussed. Apprenticeship creates conditions for responsible behavior by creating a stable population that can develop long term assurances about expected behavior and can develop credible internal monitoring and sanctions. In addition to requiring a personal investment of time, it provides information about fishing ethics and non-fishing information about basic biology, ecology, and participation in the management system. This, because it changes the frame of reference, should affect individual behavior both fishing and as participants in management. Apprenticeship focuses on the individual fishing as the principal actor in conservation. The apprenticeship approach bolsters both co-management and, for that matter, conventional limited entry programs as well

The media and freedom of expression in the Arab World

Online media, global TV and social networks played a significant role in the Arab Spring and will be important factors in determining its future direction, argues this report. A positive contribution of the media to the consolidation of democratic systems requires a dismantling of the old media order, a reform of journalistic institutions, and a change of paradigm in the conception and practice of journalism. The keywords of these changes are freedom of expression, independence, public interest, ethics and excellence. The profession is divided among the heirs of the old order, the “fellow travellers” of the new [mostly Islamist] majority, and a minority of “liberals” who see the media as a watchdog on the old and new powers. International actors can play a positive role in supporting the democratic transition if they devise a long-term strategy based on the creation of a new journalistic and media culture. A selective approach is needed to focus resources on reinforcing press freedom groups; reframing training institutions; supporting key quality media; institutionalising public service broadcasting; strengthening press ethics not as an alibi for censorship, but as a lever for responsible journalism; and promoting diversity and gender equality in newsrooms and media contents. Creating a democratic media culture also requires reinforcing so-called “citizen journalism”, i.e. the media empowerment of the people, teaching media literacy especially in the school system, strengthening civil society’s communications and media skills, and setting up a state-funded but independent and impartial public information system

Woman-centred ethics: A feminist participatory action research

Background: The maternity system has a complexity of everyday ethical issues. The bioethical principles: non maleficence, beneficence justice and autonomy, that govern health care practice have been criticised as abstract, patriarchal and even rhetorical in maternity care practice (MacLellan, 2014) and consequently may be insufficient in guiding care of childbearing women. Midwifery-led care is guided by the International Confederation of Midwives International Code of Ethics, which considers more than the bioethical principles, such as the importance of relationship. Care ethics is a relational based feminist ethics first described by Gilligan (1983) and has been theorised as an alternate paradigm for midwifery (Newnham & Kirkham, 2019). A paper was published in Nursing Ethics as a result of the literature review; Care ethics framework for midwifery practice: A scoping review and it was determined that care ethics is demonstrated in practice with four domains; Relationship, Context, Caring Practices and Attention to power. In addition, there is limited empirical evidence as to women’s experiences of care from an ethical perspective, and importantly what women describe as ethical, revealing a gap in the literature that has yet to be explored. Objective: The aim of the study reported in this thesis was to investigate women’s experience of maternity care from an ethical perspective and to determine whether a care ethics paradigm would better suit midwifery. Methods: The transformative research was undertaken using Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR). FPAR is a feminist and transformative research design, which includes participants as central to research design. Purposive sampling was used to recruit women who had experienced midwifery-led care. Nine women formed the Community action research group (CARG), they worked with me over three years, guided the research and planned action. The CARG participated in five focus groups, for data collection and organising action toward the changes they wished to see. Their involvement in the research included: defining the research problem, creating a priori codes for analysis, reviewing analysis, disseminating findings and provided recommendations for policy change. A paper was published in Woman and Birth: Navigating midwifery solidarity: A feminist participatory action research framework, describing some of the finer points of FPAR including a framework for novice researchers. In phase two a further ten women who had had midwifery-led care were involved in this study and interviewed about their experiences of ethical maternity care. Data were collected from September 2019 to April 2022 via five focus group interviews and ten one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The interviews were recorded, and transcribed, and template and Reflexive thematic analysis was applied (Braun & Clark, 2021). Findings: The findings in this study were presented in two parts. The first phase of the study revealed midwifery-led care demonstrated care ethics in practice. The Community Action Research Group (CARG) created a priori codes and a template analysis determined that midwifery models of care demonstrate care ethics. A paper of these findings was published in Nursing Ethics; Does midwifery-led care demonstrate care ethics? A template analysis. In the second phase of the study, the data corpus was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and the primary theme, Radical desires: Individuals’ values and context, captures the woman at the centre of the care, her values and context, as central to understanding ethics. The quality of the relationship, the knowledge that was shared, and the manner of the care given were deemed important elements of ethical care. I assigned categories Woman-centred ethics or Authoritarian ethics to describe these elements of ethical or unethical aspects of care. Woman-centred ethics contains the subcategories of: harmonised relationship, transparent wisdom, and midwifery solidarity. The category Authoritarian ethics contains the subcategories of: uneasy alliance, opaque information, and saving women from themselves. How the woman experienced these categories affected the liminality and sense of self, and are described in subthemes, Claiming power and Surrendered power. Discussion: The themes were explained, discussed, and contrasted against the extant literature in the discussion. Pregnancy and birth as a transformative rite of passage was valued by the women in this study and they perceived care as more ethical when the care providers respected this. Authoritarian ethics, when viewed with a feminist and care ethics lens highlighted continued female oppression from the maternity system structures and culture. A conceptual model, Woman-centred ethics, was developed based on midwifery philosophy and feminist care ethics, which may help midwives embody a different kind of ethics and provides a way to enhanced ethical practice. A paper was published that shared the conceptual model in Midwifery Journal: Woman-centred ethics: A feminist participatory action research. Conclusion: This study has contributed to the body of knowledge that describes how women perceive ethics in maternity, and honours women’s voices as central to ethical care. The study advances midwifery philosophy through exploring midwifery ethics and offers a conceptual model to guide practice. The woman-centred ethics model describes an embodied way of practicing ethical care and may provide a starting point for moving the field forward in ethical discussion. The CARG group involvement in the research and action together were an important feature of this project. Several recommendations arose from this study for practice, organisational, and educational processes

VARIOUS ASPECT OF ETHICAL MEDICAL PRACTICE: A REVIEW BASED ON AYURVEDA SCIENCE

Patients always seek for the quality treatment from his/her doctor. The basic tool of good medical practice involves professional competence, healthy relationships with patients and conductance of good ethical practice. The regulatory agencies composed “Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct†which is updated time to time. The guideline for Ayurvedic practice protect right of doctors as well as patient. The guideline of Ayurveda practice included information regarding how to practice with in confined regimen of standard protocol, it is very essential for a medical practitioner to follow ethical behavior since medical practice directly dealt with the health of human being. There are many ethical issue related to the medical profession adapted universally. Ayurveda the traditional science of Indian medical system also prescribed ethical code for the medical practice but yet to be recognized; thus there is a need to look at the ethical conductance of ayurveda practice to maintain quality of Ayurveda profession.

Ten Years of The Philosophical Foundations Mini-Track at AMCIS - Some Patterns

The Origins The first decade of the Philosophical Foundations mini-track at AMCIS has come to an end. Ten years of a lively discourse on a variety of topics hinging on philosophy, systems theory and ethics have left the core supporters of the track emotionally attached to the community of participants and the international effort that first grew out of the frustration of four individuals (Bunker et al., 2004, 2005) who felt strongly about promoting a more philosophical, systems-theoretical and ethical agenda for the information systems research field. At the time, it was difficult to find conference forums or publishing outlets for articles that built upon philosophy, systems theory or ethics. The general feeling amongst the founding members of the track was that the IS field considered ideas of many world-class philosophers too detached from IS research practice to be interesting or important. Similarly, systems theory had fallen out of fashion despite the fact that the very ideas of a computer and an information system originated from the concepts of that theory. Globa

Choosing Healthcare Options by Involving Canada's Elderly: a protocol for the CHOICE realist synthesis project on engaging older persons in healthcare decision-making

Introduction: While patient and citizen engagement has been recognised as a crucial element in healthcare reform, limited attention has been paid to how best to engage seniors-the fastest growing segment of the population and the largest users of the healthcare system. To improve the healthcare services for this population, seniors and their families need to be engaged as active partners in healthcare decision-making, research and planning. This synthesis aims to understand the underlying context and mechanisms needed to achieve meaningful engagement of older adults in healthcare decision-making, research and planning. Methods and analysis: The CHOICE Knowledge Synthesis Project: Choosing Healthcare Options by Involving Canada's Elderly aims to address this issue by synthesising current knowledge on patient, family, and caregiver engagement. A realist synthesis will support us to learn from other patient and citizen engagement initiatives, from previous research, and from seniors, families and caregivers themselves. The synthesis will guide development or adaptation of a framework, leading to the development of best practice guidelines and recommendations for engagement of older people and their families and caregivers in clinical decision-making, healthcare delivery, planning and research. Ethics and dissemination: The components of this protocol involving consultation with patients or caregivers have received ethics clearance from the University of Waterloo, Office of Research Ethics (ORE# 19094). After completion of the project, we will amalgamate the information collected into a knowledge synthesis report which will include best practice guidelines and recommendations for patient, family and caregiver engagement in clinical and health system planning and research contexts. Results: Will be further disseminated to citizens, clinicians, researchers and policymakers with the help of our partners.Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network (TVN, grant # KS2013-08), which is funded by the Government of Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Progra

Multicentre, randomised, single-blind, parallel group trial to compare the effectiveness of a Holter for Parkinson's symptoms against other clinical monitoring methods: Study protocol

Introduction In recent years, multiple studies have aimed to develop and validate portable technological devices capable of monitoring the motor complications of Parkinson's disease patients (Parkinson's Holter). The effectiveness of these monitoring devices for improving clinical control is not known. Methods and analysis This is a single-blind, clusterrandomised controlled clinical trial. Neurologists from Spanish health centres will be randomly assigned to one of three study arms (1:1:1): (a) therapeutic adjustment using information from a Parkinson's Holter that will be worn by their patients for 7 days, (b) therapeutic adjustment using information from a diary of motor fluctuations that will be completed by their patients for 7 days and (c) therapeutic adjustment using clinical information collected during consultation. It is expected that 162 consecutive patients will be included over a period of 6 months. The primary outcome is the efficiency of the Parkinson's Holter compared with traditional clinical practice in terms of Off time reduction with respect to the baseline (recorded through a diary of motor fluctuations, which will be completed by all patients). As secondary outcomes, changes in variables related to other motor complications (dyskinesia and freezing of gait), quality of life, autonomy in activities of daily living, adherence to the monitoring system and number of doctor-patient contacts will be analysed. The noninferiority of the Parkinson's Holter against the diary of motor fluctuations in terms of Off time reduction will be studied as the exploratory objective. Ethics and dissemination approval for this study has been obtained from the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge Ethics Committee. The results of this study will inform the practical utility of the objective information provided by a Parkinson's Holter and, therefore, the convenience of adopting this technology in clinical practice and in future clinical trials. We expect public dissemination of the results in 202

Designing a model of professional ethics excellence for clinical librarians

Objective: Developing and promoting professional ethics principles for clinical librarians can help the health care system balance the interests of all stakeholders, including clinical librarians, health care professionals, and patients. Therefore, the goal of this study was to design a model of professional ethics excellence for clinical librarians. Methods: The authors conducted a descriptive applied study using literature review and the delphi method. The delphi panel included eleven experts in medical librarianship, library and information sciences, or information sciences and knowledge studies. Results: After the delphi rounds, five concepts and forty-six components were identified and confirmed to provide a model of professional ethics excellence for clinical librarians. The highest-rated concept was excellence in communication. The highest-rated component was mastery in developing search strategies in information resources and databases. Conclusions: Identifying and applying principles of professional ethics among clinical librarians can enhance the professionalization of clinical librarians and result in better information services for physicians. Furthermore, incorporating these principles into the curriculum for health sciences library and information sciences students or into workshops for active clinical librarians can further formalize the profession and practice of evidence-based medicine. © 2020, Medical Library Association. All rights reserved

Multicentre, randomised, single-blind, parallel group trial to compare the effectiveness of a Holter for Parkinson's symptoms against other clinical monitoring methods: study protocol

Introduction In recent years, multiple studies have aimed to develop and validate portable technological devices capable of monitoring the motor complications of Parkinson's disease patients (Parkinson's Holter). The effectiveness of these monitoring devices for improving clinical control is not known. Methods and analysis This is a single-blind, cluster-randomised controlled clinical trial. Neurologists from Spanish health centres will be randomly assigned to one of three study arms (1:1:1): (a) therapeutic adjustment using information from a Parkinson?s Holter that will be worn by their patients for 7 days, (b) therapeutic adjustment using information from a diary of motor fluctuations that will be completed by their patients for 7 days and (c) therapeutic adjustment using clinical information collected during consultation. It is expected that 162 consecutive patients will be included over a period of 6 months. The primary outcome is the efficiency of the Parkinson?s Holter compared with traditional clinical practice in terms of Off time reduction with respect to the baseline (recorded through a diary of motor fluctuations, which will be completed by all patients). As secondary outcomes, changes in variables related to other motor complications (dyskinesia and freezing of gait), quality of life, autonomy in activities of daily living, adherence to the monitoring system and number of doctor?patient contacts will be analysed. The noninferiority of the Parkinson's Holter against the diary of motor fluctuations in terms of Off time reduction will be studied as the exploratory objective. Ethics and dissemination approval for this study has been obtained from the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge Ethics Committee. The results of this study will inform the practical utility of the objective information provided by a Parkinson's Holter and, therefore, the convenience of adopting this technology in clinical practice and in future clinical trials. We expect public dissemination of the results in 2022.Funding This work is supported by AbbVie S.L.U, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III [DTS17/00195] and the European Fund for Regional Development, 'A way to make Europe'